"Violin Mastery? It means to me complete control of the fingerboard, a
being at home in every position, absolute sureness of fingering,
absolute equality of tone under all circumstances. I remember Ysaye
playing Tschaikovsky's _Sérénade Mélancolique_, and using a fingering
for certain passages which I liked very much. I asked him to give it to
me in detail, but he merely laughed and said: 'I'd like to, but I
cannot, because I really do not remember which fingers I used!' That is
mastery--a control so complete that fingering was unconscious, and the
interpretation of the thought was all that was in the artist's mind!
Sevčik's 'complete technical mastery' is after all not perfect, since it
represents mechanical and not mental control."